Wicked: For Good

"Stretched out, breathless, and never really emotionally affecting."

"Wasn't worth waiting an entire year for."

"Grande floods it with so much feeling that it humanizes and enriches the character and, by extension, the whole movie."

"A neat takeaway for two bold, impressive movies."

"Feels like a robust tale unto itself."

"Erivo leads a fine cast in a zingily scored conclusion to the hit origin story."

"Surpasses last year’s box-office smash in verve, ambition and emotional ache."

"No longer defies gravity but sort of roughly plummets back down to terra firma."

"Really sings where it counts: with the emotional ache of the fractured friendship at the story’s core."

"Like Fruit Loops that had been left sitting in a bowl of milk for too long – those bright solid colours bleeding out and leaving nothing but a soggy mess."

"The corporate stretch-it-out-and-wring-it-dry approach here has been deadening."

"No doubt the fans will thrill to the music all over again."

"Even with an overcomplicated ending and a couple of character development nitpicks, you couldn't ask for more."

"To a large degree, these movies have been the Erivo-and-Grande show."

"Not quite over the rainbow, then, but just enough of its colours and candour to get by."

"The first installment was all tedious set-up. The second has a body count."

"More of the same, only darker."

"Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo almost save this deflated prequel."